Robnation.org - Robert Pattinson Birthday Project

Every year we try to do something special for Rob’s birthday.  This year, we think we have the best present idea we have ever had.

We all know that Rob fell in love with his co-star Tai the Elephant while filming Water for Elephants, so we thought a great way to celebrate his 26^th birthday would be to foster/adopt an orphaned elephant under his name. 

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a truly amazing organization.  They take in orphaned elephants, feed and take care of them, then slowly integrate them back into the wild.  When we foster/adopt one of these elephants, we will be helping with their care.  You can read all about the program HERE.

We are hoping that all of our readers will want to help and participate in fostering an elephant for Rob’s birthday.  To participate, please follow these steps:

Send your donation to Robnation.org’s PayPal account, RobNationDonations@gmail.com.  It can be any amount, even just a dollar or two.

Once you have sent your donation, please send us an email to robchicks@robnation.org with your name and a birthday wish for Rob.  We will be sure to include everyone who has donated on the card we will be sending to Rob’s management team along with their personal birthday wish.

On May 6^th, a week before Rob’s birthday, we will take the full amount of donations, pick an elephant(s) to adopt and foster them for as many years as the money collected will allow.  The minimum requirement is $50.00 for one year.  So, if we collect $100.00, we will be able to foster for two years or two elephants for one year, $150.00 for three years or 3 elephants for a year, etc.  

On Rob’s birthday, May 13^th, we will post a picture and information of the elephant(s) we have fostered/adopted on our site.  As we get our monthly updates on our elephant, we will post them on our site as well so we can all see how our donation is helping.

Robnation.org truly believes that this is one of the best presents we could get Rob.  Being the animal lover that he is, we are pretty sure he will be incredibly touched that an orphaned elephant will be taken care of due to our love and appreciation for him.

Read more about the Foster/Adopt an Elephant program after the jump.

THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST

FOSTERING PROGRAM

US$ 50 per year is the minimum fostering fee

"Please help us help an orphaned elephant
by fostering one of the orphans
directly through our website
as a gift of life"Daphne Sheldrick

A tiny newborn elephant is orphaned, often its mother and family gunned down to serve the Ivory trade, its life support gone; any survivors fleeing in terror; its fate now suffering and death in hopeless and lonely isolation it cannot understand. For an elephant, the family is all important; its very existence dependent upon its mother's milk for the first two years of life and a life that should span three score years and ten, equivalent to that of man. In a perfect world that elephant life would be filled with fun and joy through the companionship of friends and a close-knit and loving family, whose love is pure and unconditional all the days of its life.

In one country in Africa, Kenya, an Elephant Nursery situated in Nairobi under the auspices of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, overseen by Dr. Daphne Sheldrick, whose elephant experience spans a lifetime, and with the cooperation of the Kenya Wildlife Service, for the first time ever now offers hope for any orphaned elephant fortunate enough to be found alive. It took Daphne Sheldrick 28 years of trial and error during the years that her husband was Warden of Kenya's largest and most important elephant Sanctuary, Tsavo East National Park, to perfect the milk formula and complex husbandry necessary to rear the orphaned infant African elephants. Today, with financial help of many caring folk world-wide, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is proud to have saved what amounts to a herd; over 60 orphaned infant calves that would otherwise have perished. More importantly, every one of these orphans can look forward to a quality of life in wild terms, living free in Tsavo East National Park encompassed by their new extended orphaned family and friends amongst the wild herds in a National Park that offers elephants the S P A C E they need - the 8,000 square miles of pristine wilderness that is TSAVO.

None of this would have been possible without help of many people worldwide, for the rearing an infant elephant is an expensive and long-term commitment during the time it is dependent upon milk and a team of trained carers who represent the lost elephant family and are there for the little elephant until such time as it is comfortable amongst the wild herds and chooses to become independent. The time involved depends entirely upon the personality of each individual and also upon how well the elephant can recall its elephant family, but all the orphans reared by The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust are "elephants" again and integrated into the wild community by the age of ten, though always in their large elephant hearts will be a corner for the specific humans who were their family in infancy.

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The Baby Elephant Foster Parent Programme,

Via email, your gift will include:

We have made our fostering program digital, thereby keeping admin costs down. Postage around the world is a cumbersome administrative expense that we are now able to avoid through the Internet. 

		A fostering certificate with a profile and photograph of your adopted orphan together with a description of the Orphans’ Project;
		An interactive map indicating where your orphan was found and a description of the habitat and the plight of the elephants (or Rhinos) in that particular area;
		A monthly summary highlighting events of the previous month together with a direct link to the ‘Keepers Diary’ for your elephant. In the diary you will be able to access the daily calendar entries and the monthly photos. These updates can be printed off to enable you to keep a journal highlighting the progress of your orphan;.
		Along with the update you will receive a collectable monthly watercolor by Angela Sheldrick;
		From time-to-time, you will receive news of new arrivals and rescues written by Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick with accompanying photographs;
		And most importantly, as one of our foster parents, you are considered part of the DSWT team and we will be keeping in personal contact with you as an important member of our project.
	A truly unique and novel gift that can be enjoyed throughout the year